Page last Updated : 30-04-06
Richard Boyd writes...
"My moves for this weekend, which were as follows:
47532 Chester-Holyhead 09.30 Crewe-Holyhead
47532 Holyhead-Crewe 12.46 Holyhead-Euston
47532 Crewe-Bangor 12.40 Euston-Holyhead
47555 Bangor-Chester 18.00 Holyhead-Crewe
My Sunday move was:
47503 Manchester-Stafford 12.33 Manchester-Brighton
47465 Stafford-Manchester 11.50 Euston-Manchester
For reasons of economy, I didn't stray very far from home this weekend
and the day was almost more notable for what I didn't have than what I
did. I decided to have the 09.30 Crewe-Holyhead to Holyhead for the
12.46 Holyhead-Euston back to Crewe. This was one of the two North
Wales Coast flyers, the other being the 10.00 Euston-Holyhead. The
only intermediate stops between Holyhead and Crewe were Bangor and
Chester and vice versa on the 10.00 ex-Euston. These were boat trains
and in the days before cheap flights to Ireland used to get really
busy, hence the limited stops. Oddly enough, I travelled back from
Ireland recently on one of the Class 57 hauled trains out of Holyhead
at approximately the same time of day and there were more bashers on
the train than passengers off the ferry! But back in 1984 it was only
possible to do a flyer in one direction for a stopper back. This was
just as well on this particular day because the 10.00 ex-Euston was
very unusually a 45/1, as indeed was the 10.10 from Holyhead to Euston
(45128). The latter train did drop Peaks occasionally after (and
indeed a little before) the Trans-Pennine services were diverted into
North Wales using 45/1s. However, for the 10.00 ex-Euston to drop a
Peak was very rare and no doubt great fun for the Peak bashers. As it
was, I allowed myself a sigh of relief that I'd elected to suffer the
stagger to Holyhead first for the non-stop flail later.
Once at Crewe I should have had a fresh 47 back along the Coast to
Bangor but on this particular occasion 47532 came straight back out
again. The day was concluded with 47555 from Bangor to Chester. My
notes for Crewe do include 33032 on the 16.06 to Cardiff and 85016 on
the 15.13 to Barrow.
As for my locos, these were nothing out of the ordinary and indeed,
47555 was as much a part of the North Wales scene in the 80s as any
40. No doubt this is the reason one of its cabs found its way into
someone's garden at Prestatyn for a while in the late 90s. As things
went, it was fairly long-lived for a no-frills 47/4, being withdrawn
in January 1999 and scrapped by the beginning of the next year. 47532
was an earlier casualty, withdrawn in November 1996 but lingering on
in the scrapyard till February 2001.
Sunday's move was simply Manchester-Stafford out and back. 47503
became 47771 and has entered preservation. 47465, on the other hand,
was withdrawn from Old Oak in November 1991 and languished there until
April 1997 when it was scrapped on site.
The strange thing about this particular recollection is that although
the individual locos are long gone, it doesn't feel immensely distant
as some bashing memories do; no doubt on account of the fact that it
was still possible to have 47s down the Coast as recently as last
year."
"Big-Bird" says...
"Saturday.
Did F&W's
"Scenic Settler" railtour from Plymouth with 50008. Seem to remember
the tour was planned to send the 50 through to Carlisle & back but BR
put a stop to it a few days before & as a result, Thunderer was
removed at Crewe for probably the best loco in the world in the shape
of 47537 "S.G.C.O.G". This fine beast took the train to Carlisle &
back to Stockport where 50008 was waiting. I returned on this to New
St.
Sunday.
47439 on a unknown train from New St. to Nuneaton."
Pip Dunn recalls...
"My moves for April 7 1984 actually start
at midnight! I'd done 1S19 (to get the bankers - 37288/291 -
or 37427/419 if you prefer now!)
Anyway, going for 1S19 was not my main
aim for being at New Street at midnight... there was a
BR-organised ADEX from Wolverhampton
to Penzance - the ticket for which doubled up as a day
rover in Cornwall. It was advertised
for a '50' on the way back, but in reality, the loco off 1M61
was diagrammed to work the outward and
this dropped a Vac. Happy days!
So I enjoyed 50026 Indomitable on 1Z36,
the 0001 Wolverhampton-Penzance ADEX from Birmingham,
via the Didcot avoiding line to Redruth
- some 337 miles of vac thrash. The only problem was my
allocated seat was in a compo with a
bloke with the worst BO imaginable... He stank. (I was home not
too long ago at new street - same unkempt
and scruffy tramp-like dress sense, I was appalled to see)
I luckily found an alternative compo
and got some doss, but was able to wake up in time up as we went
past the (deserted) sea wall just before
daybreak, which was hellfire!
The plan was to get off at Redruth for
the 0740 Penzance-Liverpool (1M85) - booked a pair of Vacs.
I'd heard 50008 Thunderer and 50033
Glorious quoted, but in fact it was a far more rateable combination
of 50023 Howe leading 50006 Neptune
that rolled round the corner. I did these to Bodmin Parkway for
50018 Resolution on the 2B08, 0700 Exeter
St David's - Penzance all the way to the blocks.
Cardiff's 47473 was on 1O86 - the 1045
Penzance-Havant, so I did this to Truro for 50035 Ark Royal on
1B18, the 0750 Bristol TM-Penzance to
Camborne for 50015 Valiant on 2B23, the 1155 Penzance-Plymouth
back to Truro for 50011 Centurion on
the 2B18, 1145 Plymouth-Penzance to St Erth where there was
the chance to bail for 37207 and 37185
on the 0958 Penzance-Penzance, via cornish branches line tour.
The return trip to Coventry was with
an equally hellfire 50012 Benbow on 1Z36 - the 1645 Penzance-
Coventry all the way home to end a brilliant
day's vac bashing in Cornwall."
Chris Walker writes...
"After 14 unbroken 12 hour night shifts (pre
Hidden recommendations and European Time Directives…J)
I needed to get out of London and have
a weekend with my parents in North Wales.
87028 took me out of Euston on the 0815
to Man Picc as far as MK and 86102 fwd to Crewe on the 0835
Euston – Blackpool. My parents
were living in Llangollen at the time, so I had a choice of getting to
Ruabon (nearest railhead) either via
Chester or Shrewsbury.
Before I could make up my mind, however,
40135 came whistling southbound into Platform One hauling a
nearly empty rake of Mk1s. The window
stickers declared it to be 1Z27 – but having not checked the STNs,
I had no idea what this was – and, anyway,
the 40 was detached upon arrival.
Sleep-deprived and under-nourished (first
time away from home) all I really wanted was a bit of mum’s TLC
and home cooking. However, when 40044
was the replacement engine I just had to take it – especially as it
was now signalled out via the Salop
lines – who knows, it might even get me back home earlier than the
service train…
Only once past Gresty Lane did I discover
that I was on a Manchester – Swansea Footex with next stop
scheduled at Cardiff… Younger readers
might also give some thought to that these were the days long
before the advent of the mobile phone
to apologise to parents that I was actually headed to completely
the opposite end of Wales to the point
I was expected to be collected very shortly!
To rub salt into the wound, we weren’t
platformed at Cardiff and I wasn’t yet brave enough to do ‘ballast’
moves! 47511 took me forward to
Swansea where a totally over the top police presence tried to ‘frog-march’
me to a football match that I had no
interest in!
Fill in move to Pembrey & BP and
back (33020 & 33062) were followed by tram moves to Bristol and
33105 to Southampton. Here I hoped
to get some ED action on the overnights.
Well that was the idea – I actually had
lots of New Forest action on board Yellow Coaches no 107 instead…
In hindsight, not only was this a bit
of a ‘bowl out’, but how many hours sleep did we all miss in search of
EDs that would work many times daily
on the Gatwick circuit a couple of years later…!
The usually reliable 2238 Weymouth –
Waterloo eventually became a train fwd from Brockenhurst –
although sadly only a unit (7824).
Hey, ho, at least I’m in position to
cover 0340 SUN Waterloo – Petersfield News train for the first time
in my life – and lets face it, this
wasn’t the most sociable train in the GBTT to cover!
Slightly bemused to find a ‘dud’ but
interesting 50005 on the front. Train terminated at Haslemere but,
undeterred, I insisted on forward transport
to the ‘advertised’ Petersfield. I pity the poor taxi driver who
was summoned out of his Surrey bed that
Sunday morning because, once I got to Haslemere, I found that
the level crossing was being replaced
and there would be no trains until that afternoon. Thankfully the taxi
driver was having a quick ciggie-break
and I persuaded him to take me back to Petersfield before he
went back to bed and charged BR a fortune
for my pointless move…
Newspapers unloaded, I boarded the unadvertised
return working, again behind 50005 – going forward
from Guildford to Woking as the advertised
0710 departure. No one seemed to have queried my travelling
on the ‘unadvertised’ bits of this train
(or even my taxi moves) so I decided to stay on the stock to
Waterloo. That was my mistake, as the
stock actually ends up in Woking CS…
Having been too ‘scared’ to do a ‘ballast’
move at Cardiff the previous day, I really had no option here
and stepped carefully over the 3rd rail
before getting back to the safety of Woking station and a unit to
Waterloo and Northern Line to Euston.
What was on the front of the 0850 Euston
– Holyhead? Nothing less than 25236 as far Willesden PB. I
spent a happy day doing ‘ned’ moves
to Watford Jn and back and later had 25209, 31213, 31283 on drags
between Euston and Willesden or vice
versa.
However one of my all time ‘hellfire’
memories remains as the 1245 Euston – Glasgow that day that
consisted of a ‘dead’ 87020 on 12 Mk
IIIs being hauled up Camden bank by a single 25057.
My records then show me going home to
bed in Berkhamsted – I trust my parents have now had just
over 20 years to forgive me for not
appearing at Ruabon station at the appointed hour… gosh that was
almost half my lifetime ago…
All in all, not a bad weekend bash for
what should have been simple parent visit!"
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